Clean Air for All: Free Air Purifier Program

Everybody deserves a breath of fresh air. Project N95 is donating air purifiers to schools and organizations in under-represented communities to help people in need. Learn more about our Clean Air for All initiative today, and if you represent an organization that serves the disadvantaged, fill out the form to see if you might be a fit for our free air purifier pilot program.

Take a deep breath. How does that make you feel? Healthy air is critical to our well-being, learning, and quality of life. Project N95 imagines a future in which everybody can breathe easy.

Why Clean Air?

Predictably, poor air quality leads to serious problems, including asthma, bronchitis, and the spread of respiratory illnesses such as COVID and influenza. Levels of air pollution in a space—which can be several times higher indoors than outdoors—usually correlate with levels of health problems like lung disease, heart attacks, and even premature death.

Nevertheless, healthy indoor air is about so much more than our lungs. Students with clean air in their schools demonstrate better performance, attendance, and achievement than their peers.

At the core of everything Project N95 does is a simple question: How can we help? In that spirit, we are now working to provide free and easy-to-use air purifiers to classrooms and other congregate spaces across the country.

How Do Air Purifiers Help?

Air purification requires at least two mechanisms: ventilation and filtration.

Ventilation refers to "exchanging" air—essentially replacing indoor air with "fresh" outdoor air. Filtration refers to "cleaning" air—removing harmful particles, usually by trapping them in a filter. An air purifier accomplishes this by forcing air through the filtration device. A good air purifier has a high Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR): a basic measure of how much air it cleans.

One big advantage of air purifiers—which mostly rely on filtration—is that they can still dramatically improve indoor air quality in rooms without good ventilation. What happens when you add an air purifier to your indoor space?

• Reduction of viruses and bacteria that cause respiratory disease
• Less particulate matter that aggravates asthma symptoms
• Diminished allergies from smoke, pollen, dust, and mold
• Fewer semi-volatile organic compounds

How Is Project N95 Helping?

Our pilot program for free purifiers offers a great do-it-yourself option: the SAFE box.

A Supplementary Air Filtered Exchanges (SAFE) box pairs a standard box fan with a high-grade MERV-16 filter to deliver a high CADR at a low cost. SAFE boxes can be assembled in less than half an hour without any special expertise.

SAFE boxes are an excellent option for schools: portable, affordable, and easy to assemble. An average classroom of 900 square feet or 9000 cubic feet needs only two or three SAFE boxes to achieve better air quality. The filters can last six to ten months—covering the entire school year—and box fans running at low speed are quiet enough to let students concentrate.

How Can I Get an Air Purifier?

Schools and other organizations can fill out the Air Purifier Donation Pilot Program form on this page, and we will let you know if we are able to help.

You can make your air cleaner at home, school, or work with HEPA-filter air purifiers in our shop.

If you have additional questions and would like to speak to a Project N95 team member, please email partnerships@projectn95.org with "Question about air purifier donation program" in the subject line.